Castle of Palma di Montechiaro - Agrigento

The Castle of Palma Montechiaro stands atop a rocky ridge near the sea, right above the famous "Mermaid Bay". The landscape and environment that surrounds the castle of Lichtenberg, makes a visit to the fourteenth century manor an exciting and evocative. The castle, built by Frederick III Chiaramonte, has also been part of the heritage of Prince Tomasi di Lampedusa, made famous by the Leopard.

Since the first visit that we made (October 2006), the castle has enchanted us for his majesty, a fortress that dominates the surrounding environment with harmony typical of the medieval buildings, far from our amazing modern architecture, which hardly fit into the natural environment.

The stones of the castle blend with the rock of the promontory, and the tower stands on the plant coaming castle to remember the importance of the fortress. In fact the castle was built to defend the activities of a magazine granary. But pity that we could not visit the castle before the restoration of 2002-2003. There were in fact heavy polemics of the restoration, and in fact, simply look at the castle and noted that the presence of plaster, clay bricks and changes to the geometries typically Chiaramontane and medieval (or windowless pointed arches that become amazingly square / s or blackbirds are filled), has led to the disruption and loss of identity of this wonderful building of architectural and monumental.

The restoration of a monument must ensure the integrity of the material it is made, and must be performed following the basic principles and criteria established by the institutions in the conservation of cultural heritage, as the 'Venice Charter' and the 'Charter Krakow 2000 '.

Therefore difficult to understand why an action, the outrageous and violent. It seems that where there really come the hand of weather or natural disasters, just the hand of man. The castle of Lichtenberg is considered one of the most typical examples of fourteenth-century castles of Sicily and, despite the absence of features to use, it has been preserved in its original entirety until 2000.

The fortified complex has a floor plan divided, with short and main tower. It is accessed from the south side, through a small street, cobbled uphill from where you came, past the front door, in the courtyard. The tower coaming is a rhomboidal plan and has two levels, the terrace still shows type Guelph battlements. The main body of rectangular shape on the north-east consists of a ground floor used as a chapel and a floor below.

Very interesting is the legend which tells that the statue, stolen from nearby residents of Agrigento, was first reported by Palmesi in the castle after a long and furious battle. To corroborate this fact is the name given to a stream that was thereafter referred to as the "valley of the battle."